John Quayle has paid tribute to the late, great Tina Turner following her death at age 83.

The former general manager of NSWRL remembers Turner as 'humble and engaging' after they worked together on one of the most iconic rugby league marketing campaigns in Australian history. 

'She was such a professional, humble and engaging woman. Sometimes her script went out the door because she made it her own,' he revealed on The Project.

'That's why along with her music, what she was like made it the iconic advertising campaign that it became.' 

He added that Tina helped make the game 'a little more sexy' by personalising the sport through her song (Simply) The Best, which became NRL's unofficial anthem.

'People asked why we would be using an American grandmother to promote the game. But that all ended when they saw her iconic commercial.' 

As the world mourns the loss of the 'Queen of Rock 'n' Roll', Tina Turner, rugby league is remembering her for fronting one of the greatest marketing campaigns in the history of Australian sport.

Turner, 83, died at home in Switzerland after a long illness, with tributes pouring in from across the world for the much-loved 12-time Grammy winner, who was given a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 after one of the greatest careers in music history.

Known for such hits as Nutbush City Limits, Proud Mary and River Deep - Mountain High, it was (Simply) The Best that league fans will remember most fondly Down Under.

The American megastar was recruited by NSW Rugby League (NSWRL) in 1988 to head up a campaign for the iconic Winfield Cup, which, at the time, organisers felt was becoming stale and not appealing to fans who weren't middle-aged men.

Enter legendary NSWRL chief John Quayle, advertising guru Jim Walpole and Australian Rugby League (ARL) boss Ken Authurson, with the singer's management agreeing to front the campaign - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Turner first changed the direction of rugby league with the 1989 campaign featuring her hit 'What You Get Is What You See', which she filmed in the UK alongside Manly great Cliff Lyons and ex-Cronulla hardman Gavin Miller.

But it was her 1990 ad, filmed in Australia and featuring all the game's top players, that now eternally sits in NRL folklore.

(Simply) The Best is now synonymous for many Aussies with rugby league, because it changed the game forever.

Turner, who famously hails from Nutbush, Tennessee, would go on to become a footy icon; so much so she performed the hit at the 1993 grand final.